


The Student Body

by orphan_account



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Slow Burn, not too slow just......... nice slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-25 19:56:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3822829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the high school au no one wanted or asked for</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> fair warning: i know nothing about the american school system.. i tried but there are probably a few errors  
> also idk if i'm going to actually.. continue this or not.. let me know what you think if you read?? hopefully it's not too bad

There wasn't a class Dipper Pines hated more than History. The work was always too easy, and he was positive the teacher didn't know anything about what he was teaching the class. The only redeeming quality was that, thanks to randomized seating and an odd number of students in the class, he got to sit at the back of the room next to the only empty desk. It meant that he had not only extra space for his books and notes, but that he didn't have to do partner projects. He could do every assignment by his self. His sister would have hated it, but he’d always preferred working alone. He could never trust the other person to do their share of the work, or to do it correctly, and ended up anxious and stressing over the possibility of a bad grade. His parents wanted him to go to Harvard, and he couldn't do that if someone else caused him to fail a class.

Not that it mattered, considering there was a new student (introduced as Bill Cipher) and Dipper knew before the teacher even pointed the kid to him he’d lost the desk and all that it represented. Goodbye Harvard, hello community college and minimum wage job. He quickly cleared his stuff off the desk when Bill sat down, stuffing all the loose paper and library books in his bag and avoiding looking at the other boy.

“Hey, pine tree.”

Dipper startled at the other boy’s words, hitting his knees on the desk and flushing with embarrassment when Bill laughed.

“Didn't mean to scare ya! Anyway, what’re we supposed to be doing right now? That teachers kinda useless.”

Dipper cleared his throat and gave the teacher in mention a nervous glance (Bill was not exactly being quiet) before answering. “We’re supposed to answer the questions on the board using the textbook… you have a textbook, right?”

“Nope! But I can just use yours, right? It’ll be just like every teen romance movie! Let me use a pencil and a piece of paper, too.”

Dipper rolled his eyes but complied, pushing his history book so it was in the middle and giving the other boy paper and a pencil from his binder.

“Didn't you come prepared at all? Jeez.”

The blonde just laughed in response and started writing. Dipper, who had already finished his work, pushed his hat (where he assumed Bill got ‘pine tree’ from) aside and lay his head down on his arms. AP classes meant staying up late doing homework, and with how early school was he averaged about six hours of sleep a night; sometimes less. Even if he no longer had his empty desk and had to work with a partner from then on, at least he still had his History naps.

When the bell rang Dipper shot up, once again banging his knees against the desk and once again causing Bill to laugh. He didn't take the time to glare at the other, rushing to get his things put away so he could get to his locker faster. The students were only given a few minutes between classes to use their lockers and get to wherever they needed to go, and Dipper’s next class was on the complete opposite side of the school from his locker.

His next class was AP Math, which was thankfully nowhere near as bad as History. It was challenging enough he didn't get bored, but easy enough he didn't get stuck on one problem for too long. It was definitely not a nap time class.

While Dipper shoved his books into his locker he listened to his sister ramble on about her earlier classes. She’d had art while he was in math, and was gushing about a cute boy she’d… drawn? Or sat beside. Or something. Dipper wasn't really listening; his twin got a new crush every week, and said almost the same thing about them all.  It was either a girl that was stunningly beautiful, or a boy that was stunningly handsome. Both of which she could wax poetic on for hours if he let her (which he did, because her face always lit up and her eyes got a dreamy look in them and Dipper would do anything to make her happy).

When he shut his locker and turned to head to the cafeteria, Mabel grabbed his sleeve and gave him a funny look.

“Weren't you listening? He’s meeting us here. Because he’s going to have lunch with us. And I told him to come to your locker instead of mine because I know you always take forever and look! There he is! Just in time!”

Mabel let go of Dipper’s sleeve, a smile on her face. He turned to see who the crush of the week was, only mildly surprised to see it was Bill because of _course_ she would like the mysterious new kid. Looking head-on at the other boy, he noticed an eye-patch covering his right eye. That was probably what really did it for his twin.

“Hey, Bill. So, you’re the one Mabe’s is in love with? Figures.”

That earned him a punch in the arm from said twin, and an indignant “ _Dipper!_ ”

Bill sighed dramatically and said, “That’s the curse of looks as good as mine.”

 “You wish. Now, let’s go eat lunch. I'm starving.”

Mabel gave him a pointed look and replied with, “Well, maybe if you ever actually ate breakfast like a _regular_ human being…”

It was an argument the two had ongoing since they started high school two years earlier; Dipper started skipping breakfast so he could sleep in later, and Mabel got mad at him for missing what she considered the most important meal of the day. She was probably right, but the extra sleep was worth it in Dipper’s mind.

By the time they got to their usual table to eat, all their friends were already there. Mabel sat beside Pacifica, Dipper sat on her other side, and Bill opted to sit beside Dipper instead of his sister. He felt something akin to relief at that.

Mabel took care of all the introductions. She introduced Candy and Grenda as her best friends, and Pacifica as Dipper’s friend. He could only roll his eyes at the tone she used when talking about Pacifica. The two girls had some weird rivalry going on between them that only got progressively worse as the years passed. Dipper had only really became friends with her a couple years earlier when she’d asked him to help her family with something. Turns out her father was afraid of being haunted, and had heard about Dipper’s interest in the paranormal.

Bill fit in with their group well. He wasn't shy in the slightest and had no problems keeping up with conversation. Dipper was almost envious of his confidence.

“So, Dipper,” Pacifica had a glint in her eyes as she spoke, and by the way she looked at his sister with a smug smile before continuing he knew he was going to get dragged into another of their weird competitions. “Does your sister dear know about… _You_ know?”

And of course Pacifica would go there, and of course it was while he was taking a sip of milk so he’d swallow wrong and have a coughing fit. He looked at the girl with tears in his eyes from lack of proper breathing.

“You prom- - _cough_ \- promised, you wouldn't – _cough_ -... Ugh.”

He quickly downed the rest of his milk as a means of stopping the coughing, clearing his throat before continuing on.  

“You promised you wouldn't use it for your… _Whatever_ it is you two do.” He gesticulated at the last part, a sour look on his face. Not only did his throat and chest feel scratchy after all the coughing, his secrets were now apparently being used as a means of one-upping his sister. The secret wasn't bad or anything; he’d just mentioned to Pacifica the fact that he thought he might like both boys and girls. He only didn't want his sister to know because he was still confused, and he knew no matter how hard she tried to keep it secret she’d get over-excited and announce it to the world. But the fact remained that he definitely didn't trust either of them with his stuff anymore, not while they were using him as some sort of pawn.

“That’s it; I'm officially resigning from talking to either of you about anything ever again. Bill, I hope you’re ready to be my new confidant.”  

And with that, ignoring the girls’ words of defense and complaint, he turned to face Bill. Who looked like he was having the time of his life.

Dipper narrowed his eyes, and said, “On second thought, maybe I’ll just bottle everything up.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk how good this chapter actually is haha.. sorry for any english mistakes, not my first language!! which is probably obvious lol.

Over the following few weeks, Bill became a fixed member of their friend group. Dipper noticed he got along with everyone he talked to except Grenda. He seemed genuinely disturbed by the girl, though Dipper couldn’t for the life of him understand why. He was sure he must have missed something that happened, though Grenda seemed to like Bill well enough. Other than that, their group’s dynamic was good. Mabel seemed to have gotten over her crush on Bill (or at least stopped talking to Dipper about it; he made note of the fact that her cheeks still went pink when speaking to the blonde) and even Pacifica made an effort to talk to the guy and include him in conversations.

Dipper was glad for the others presence. He’d been pointedly not talking to Pacifica or his sister at lunch since the “incident” (he’d ended up having to tell Mabel what it was about anyway; if he hadn’t, she would have obsessed over it for who knows how long) but that only left him with the option of conversation with Candy and Grenda, or Bill. He went with the one that was less likely to talk about shipping boy bands or male celebrities’ genitalia.

Of course, he learned less likely didn’t mean never on a particular Tuesday where he had to listen to Bill and Candy have a full-fledged argument over whether six inches was too big or too small for Leonardo DiCaprio. Ridiculous as the argument was he couldn’t help but stare at the other boy as he made his points, voice raised and loud but a gleam in his eye that told Dipper he was definitely enjoying arguing. He seemed so full of life and passion in that moment and it didn’t matter that he was yelling about dicks; Dipper was pretty sure he could yell about anything and look the way he did at that moment. Suddenly all too aware of his own gawking he forced himself to look away and down at his food, cheeks tinted pink with embarrassment.

Dipper discovered soon enough that Bill really did love to argue. He was constantly challenging teachers and other students, making comments that were either condescending or patronizing. Dipper was amazed at the fact that this had only gotten the blonde some headshakes or glares, that no one had ever even told him to fuck off.

The luck had to run out. Dipper was with Bill when it happened, and in all honestly it was his fault; the guy had been trying to provoke _him_ , not the blonde. It was what he usually got, a shoulder check and a snide comment. It’d stopped really bothering him in middle school, now more of a nuisance than anything else, but apparently it bothered Bill because his immediate response was to tell the guy to go fuck himself. Dipper gaped at the boy, who looked nothing more than miffed. His gaze switched to the guy Bill had told off, (Adam, Dipper’s dedicated bully since sixth grade) who looked angrier than he liked to see him.

“Excuse me?”

 “Oh, sorry! I didn’t realize you were an idiot! See, ‘go fuck yourself’ means—”

Bill’s words were cut off by a fist colliding with his nose. He stumbled back, but didn’t seem as unhappy about being punched as Dipper thought he should be. He touched his now bleeding nose, and actually laughed.

“Talk about touchy! You know, you should consider anger management classes, learn some breathing techniques or somethin’.”

“Bill! Stop _provoking_ him, oh my God.”

Dipper could almost pull out his hair; did the other not have any self-preservation?

Bill just looked at him with what he swears was a pout, and replied, “It’s not _my_ fault he can’t control himself.”

Which Dipper knew was not the thing to say around someone who was clearly unstable and already angry, though the other hadn’t seemed to have picked up on that yet. He almost regretted pushing Bill out of the way when he got hit instead, but even with the new pain in his cheek he preferred it being him over his friend. He’d always had a sort of hero complex, and it had gotten him worse injuries than this.

Not that it exactly mattered when Bill’s reaction was to punch the other kid back, causing the whole thing to devolve into a fight between the two. Dipper wanted to do something to stop it, but couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was he could even do; he ended up just watching the two boys go at it, silently freaking out and yelling out variations of “ _Bill!_ ” and “ _fuck_ ” and “ _stop_ ”. He was at least glad to see his friend was the one winning the fight. There was a good sized crowd around them now, and it didn’t take long for a couple teachers to make their way through to see what was going on. They pulled the boys apart, and all three of them were sent to the principal’s office. Bill still had a bloody nose, so Dipper grabbed him paper towel from the bathroom before walking with him to the office.

While they waited in chairs to be called in, Dipper made a face at Bill.

“I can’t believe you did that.”

The blonde smiled at him. “It was fun, though, right? My first fight at my new school!”

Before he could come up with a response, they were called in and had to explain what happened. Their families ended up getting a phone call, and Bill was forced to apologize to Adam (who, in turn, had to give his own apology), but that was as deep as the punishment went. Dipper recognized they were gone easy on, that it could’ve been much worse, but he still wished parents hadn’t been contacted. He’d have taken detention over that, or in-school suspension, or anything else at all. He could only imagine what the reaction was going to be when he got home.

They were ushered to the nurse next, where the boys sat out the rest of that period. They were only missing History, so it was actually sort of nice to sit in the room they were given. Bill let Dipper have the bed, and he ended up falling asleep (which he would’ve been doing in class, anyway, so he really wasn’t missing anything).  

He woke up only because someone was shaking him roughly. He pushed himself into a sitting position, rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked at a grinning Bill.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty! Or afternoon, actually. The bell rang.”

He really woke up at the last part, anxiety creeping its way into his chest.

“The bell rang? When? How long have I been asleep?”

“Relax! It only just rang; I woke you up as soon as it went off. You need to go to your locker, right? I’ll come with you.”

Dipper only nodded in reply. The two walked to his locker in silence; it was the end of the day, and Dipper’s mind was racing with every possibility of what was awaiting him at home. The last time he’d gotten into trouble at school, his father had yelled an entire lecture out at him and his mother had grounded him for a month. They’d taken away all his books, and installed a program on his laptop that made it so he could only access academic sites.

Mabel was already waiting at his locker when they got there, and immediately had questions for why Bill was so beat up. As she listened to the story, he opened his locker and started to collect his things. It didn’t take him long, and when he turned around Bill was still describing the fight to his sister. Dramatically, too; he was pretty sure he was making up a good portion of what he was saying. The blonde look at him, then, a smile on his face.

“You should’ve seen pine tree! He got that nasty bruise you see _saving_ me.”

Bill swung an arm around him, poking the bruise on his cheek for emphasis. Which hurt, but it felt sort of nice to be this close to the other.

“Yea, remind me not to take a hit for you ever again.”  

And then he was shrugging the other off, ignoring how cold his shoulder suddenly felt. He looked at Mabel, who seemed to be lost in thought.

“Mabes? Are you okay? We should probably go so we don’t miss the bus.”

His comment seemed to snap her out of wherever she went, and she nodded, suddenly looking worried.

“What time is it? I told Pacifica we’d meet her out front before she got picked up. Let’s go!”

She grabbed both the boys by the arms and drag-walked them to where Pacifica was waiting outside the school doors. She didn’t let go of them until they were standing right next to the sandy haired girl.

“Hey, Pacifica, sorry we’re late! Dipper took _forever_ at his locker.”

Dipper knew that wasn’t true; he’d only had to grab a couple things, and had taken at most a minute to do so. Before he could respond with more than a questioning glance at his sister, Pacifica spoke.

“Whatever, it’s fine. What happened to them?” She gestured at Dipper and Bill with a manicured hand and a look of distaste. Before Bill could start telling another dramatic story, he answered with a short “Adam,” which the girl accepted without further question. Bill looked disappointed at not being able to tell his story, throwing a ridiculously cute ( _wait, what?_ ) pout at Dipper. He seemed to get over it as soon as the conversation slipped into a different topic, but the brunette was still stuck on the pout and why his instinct was to call it cute. By the time his and Mabel’s bus rolled up, he’d come to the decision that the hit he’d gotten earlier had messed with him more than he’d realized. 


	3. Chapter 3

Dipper was pulled into the dining room by his father as soon as he and Mabel had stepped into the house.  He nervously sat down at the table, playing with the straps on the backpack he was still wearing. As his father sat in the chair opposite him, he could have sworn his life flashed before his eyes.

“So, Dipper… I got a phone call from your principal earlier. You got into a fight today?”

Dipper opened his mouth to defend himself, ready to spew out every excuse Mabel had helped him come up with, but before he could even make a noise his father held up a finger.

“There’s no use denying it, not when it’s obvious you got into _some_ sort of scuffle.” He chuckled and gestured at his own cheek. Dipper really and truly did regret, in that moment, taking that hit for Bill earlier. If he didn’t, he might’ve had some sort of defense instead of a purple bruise.

“You’re not in trouble, so don’t look so nervous, okay? Actually, I’m proud of you. Finally learning to stand up for yourself.” His father was wearing a smile that the young boy had only seen him wear once before, when he first rode a bike without any sort of assistance. Well, that wasn’t true; he’d seen his father smile like that lots of times, it was just always aimed at Mabel, not him.

“You’re… proud? I’m not in trouble?”

He really just wanted to affirm the first part, wanted to hear his father tell him he was proud of him again. There was a nagging thought in the back of the boys mind, telling him that he hadn’t even been part of the fight and that if his father knew what really happened he wouldn’t be proud anymore. He ignored it, eyes lighting up when his father laughed and said that, yes, he was proud and no, he wasn’t in trouble.

“Actually, I was thinking, why don’t you and Mabel have your friends over Friday? You guys haven’t done one of those sleepovers in a while. Your mom and I will even check into a hotel, so you can have the whole night and most of Saturday! What about it?”

It spoke levels that his father was letting them have friends over at all, let alone that he was letting them have a sleepover. An unsupervised sleepover. Despite the fact that this was probably more of a treat for Mabel than it was for him, Dipper was still beyond happy at the trust his father was putting in them. In _him_.

“Yea… yea! I’ll tell everyone tomorrow at school! Thanks, dad, you’re the best!”

With that, Dipper jumped out of his chair, rushing to his room upstairs to finally unpack his school stuff and get started on his homework. Mabel poked her head through his door after a few minutes to check on him.

“All good? I didn’t hear any yelling.”

“All good. Actually, better than good. Dad said we can have people over for a sleepover on Friday.”

He smiled at the way her features immediately lit up.

“Really? We haven’t had a sleepover since we were fifteen! Wow, bro, you should get into fights more often! But don’t actually, because I hate seeing you all banged up. But, wow. A sleepover! It’ll be so awesome! Ohmygosh, I need to call Candy and Grenda!”

He watched her leave (he appreciated the fact that she always had the decency to close his door behind her) then turned back to his work, a smile still tugging on his face.

\---

At school the next day as soon as they sat at the lunch table Mabel went off, excitedly telling everyone the plan for Friday while Dipper sat back and ate his food. He didn’t have anything to add that his sister didn’t already cover, and was happy enough to let her take over. He spared a glance at Bill, who looked… well, uncomfortable. It was the first time he’d ever seen the other boy look anything other than cocky confident. He swallowed his mouthful of cafeteria pasta, then spoke, interrupting his sister mid-speech.

“You’re coming, right, Bill?”

The blonde looked surprised at his question, which soon gave way to a look of questioning instead.

“I’m… I mean, I’m invited?”

Mabel replied with a gasp, and an upfronted, “Of course!”

“Yea, I mean, I don’t think I’d want to even do it without you. Last time we had a sleepover and I was the only guy, I ended up in a dress and makeup.” He scrunched his face up at the memory; that had been one of the more humiliating moments of his life. Bill seemed to find it funny, however, because he was laughing as soon as the words left the brunettes mouth.

“Now that’s something I’d like to see! I bet you looked good. I’m winking, by the way! You can’t tell because of the eye, but I am.”

“Oh, he looked good, alright! Right, ladies?”

Dipper did his best to rub the embarrassment from his cheeks and to ignore the laughter that rang around the table. He didn’t know why he’d even brought the memory up but part of him was glad for it because Bill looked like his normal self again, shoulders shaking and eye crinkling with laughter. He thought his discomfort was worth the others smile.

“So… you’ll come, then?”

“Yea, sure! Tell me your address.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter! sorry! next will be longer! :) thank you everyone that has read this, and left a kudos! you're very kind!


	4. Chapter 4

In the days before their sleepover, Mabel busied herself with what she called “preparations”; Dipper called it “adding too much glitter to everything in their home,” and their parents agreed. Those nights were the only times she ever stayed up late with her brother; while he did his homework and studied, she worked on various banners and crafts. She was the most excited Dipper had seen her in a while, rivaling the time their school had had free waffle day. He knew it was because they hadn’t had friends over in three years, the last time being when they were fourteen, and looking at the unleaving smile on her face he was thankful for Bill starting that stupid fight. He was thankful for getting punched and he was thankful for his father’s probably mixed priorities. He was thankful for anything that ended in his sister being this happy.

On Thursday night, Dipper was working on Math questions at the desk in his room while his sister was sprawled on his floor working on something she would only refer to as “it’s a surprise!” He accepted this with suspicion; the last time she’d made a “surprise” it had ended in the fire alarm at their school going off and everyone having to stand outside for three hours.

By the time he’d finished his homework, she was still working hard. He gave his phone a quick check for the time, then turned in his chair to face his sister.

“Mabes? It’s one in the morning, we should go to bed. What are you working on, anyway?”

“I told you, Dip-Dop, it’s a surprise! Just a minute, I’m almost done.”

He watched as she finished writing something on a piece of paper. From his current point of view, her head and hair blocked him from actually seeing what she wrote or any other part of what she was doing. She clicked the cap back onto her glitter pen then sat up, looking at him triumphantly.

“There! All done! Now, brother of mine, are you ready to see pure genius?”

She moved and made a sweeping gesture with her arm, showing off her creation with obvious pride.  

“Uh, a… What is that?”

“I made a board game! I call it… Glitter town! Or, maybe, Mabelville. I’m still deciding on a name.”

“You made a board game? Wow, you really went all out. What’re the rules?”

“I’ll tell everyone tomorrow! Now, time for bed. We’ve got a _looooong_ night ahead of us tomorrow! Wink!”

“You know, I can _see_ you winking, you don’t have to say it out loud.” 

“Eye roll! It’s all for the dramatic flair, bro.”

With that she picked up her game and all the papers on the floor, leaving his room with a simple “goodnight” and close of the door. He looked at the mess of glitter and paper bits on his floor with a mix of fondness and annoyance, deciding it would be a mess for another day. It wasn’t like his room was exactly clean anyway.

\---

On Friday morning, instead of taking the bus like they normally did the twins got a ride to school from their parents. The radio was off and their parents were rattling off all the rules and warnings they could come up with. They wouldn’t be there when the two got home later, so they were making sure they knew everything they’d need to know.

“And, for a second time, Mabel… don’t let Grenda near anything fragile. Anything that gets broken, you’re replacing.”

“Don’t worry, pops, I’ve learned since last time!”

Their father gave them a wary look through the rear-view mirror. “I’m sure. Dipper… I’m trusting you to be the responsible one.”

Mabel interrupted him before he could even respond. “Hey! I’m responsible!”

“Mabel, sweetheart, of course you are. You are both going to be responsible tonight, and,” their mother had turned around almost the whole way to deliver this last part, a warning in her eyes. “The house better be spotless and perfect when we get home Saturday night.” The twins nodded and spoke in sync.

“Yes ma’am!”

Pleased with the response she got, their mom turned back to facing the front. When they pulled into the school’s lot and were about to get out of the car, she stopped them again. “No… _funny_ business tonight. Mabel, this is mostly at you. Only your friends, no boyfriends or girlfriends. Got it?”

They again nodded, and she let them go.

\---

The last block of the day for Dipper was Biology, which happened to be the only class aside from History that he shared with Bill. The seating arrangement in that class, however, kept them on opposite sides of the room. Which was just fine for him; Bill was a breathing distraction. He seemed unable to sit still, constantly fidgeting and tapping his fingers on the desk. It was fine in History when Dipper didn’t really need to concentrate, but Biology actually required his focus (though, sometimes, he would find himself glancing at Bill from across the room anyway). While his teacher explained their homework to them, and while he should have been paying attention, Dipper’s thoughts wandered. At first, he was just thinking about the impending sleepover, and then he was thinking about the fact that it was the first time any of them had hung out with Bill outside of school. He thought he should probably ask the guy to hang out more often; it’d be nice to watch movies with someone that wouldn’t talk through the whole thing (though, Bill did seem the type to do just that, he figured he’d just have to find out the hard way). When a throat beside him cleared, he ignored it, his thoughts of Bill branching off into different thoughts of Bill. He wondered what happened to the others eye, then felt bad for wondering because it was really none of his business and probably rude to think about. Someone tapped on his arm, and it scared him enough that he did his usual bit of hitting his knees on the desk.  

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!”

He turned to look at the girl that sat next to him, Meredith, who looked more amused than sorry.

“It’s fine. Uh… did you need something?”

“Right! I thought you might need the notes you missed while you were zoning out, so I copied some down for you.” As she finished speaking, cheeks tinting pink for a reason Dipper couldn’t fathom, she pushed a piece of paper in front of him.

He read it over, and realized he had missed way more than he’d thought he had.

“Thanks, I owe you one.”

He gave her a small appreciative smile that she returned full force.

“No problem! I’ll have to take you up on that sometime.” She gave a little laugh, but it got cut off by the bell. Dipper gave her another smile and a quick “yea, do that,” then he was shoving all his things into his bag and heading over to where a certain blonde was waiting at the door.

“Hey, pine tree! Locker?”

He nodded. “Locker.”

\---

“Bill, oh my God, why did you ask for the window seat if you’re just going to lean over me the whole time?”

It had been easier for everyone to ride on the bus with the twins, but in his current position Dipper wished they’d all just gotten their own rides. He was sitting between Pacifica, who made a big show about not wanting to sit next to his sister, and Bill, who made a big show about wanting the window seat. Mabel was sitting with Candy and Grenda, and seemed to be having a much better time than him.

“Dipper! Why are your shoulders so… _bony_?”

“Well, Pacifica, I’ll tell you a secret: they’ve got bones in them.”

She scoffed, and then proceeded to tell him for the umpteenth time to “move over!”

“Hey! You’re squishing me! Man, these seats really weren’t made for three people, were they? They should design them better.”

Dipper rolled his eyes at the comment. Bill kept leaning over him to speak to Mabel or Candy or even Pacifica, so it was spoken almost right in his face. The only plus side to the blonde hanging over him like that, and part of the reason he didn’t just push the other away, was that his hair smelled nice, like a mix of strawberries and vanilla. Not that Dipper was smelling the others hair on purpose; it was unavoidable with how close their heads were. (The other reason he didn’t just push the other away was that he had a hand on Dipper’s knee for balance, and it felt warm and nice in a way he wasn’t going to dwell on).

He was relieved when the bus finally rolled to a stop on his road, and he announced to the others that it was their stop.

When they were all off the bus and once they had reached the right house, he unlocked and opened the door with a flourish.

“Welcome to our humble abode.”

Mabel’s grin stretched across her whole face as she led everyone in and to the living room. She dropped her bag and kicked off her shoes.

“Put your stuff wherever! I’ll go grab everyone drinks! Pacifica, come help me.”

He was surprised his sister hadn’t asked one of her other friends, or even Bill. Actually, he was even more surprised she hadn’t asked Bill since he was pretty sure she was still crushing on him. Shaking his head of the thoughts, he slid his back pack to the floor and nudged his shoes off. The aforementioned blonde was looking around the room curiously, and it once again hit Dipper that this was the first time they’d hung out outside of school.

“You guys want a tour?”

Candy and Grenda shook their heads no, but Bill nodded his; he was the one it was really offered for, anyway.

“Okay, well… This is the living room, and that,” he pointed in the direction Mabel and Pacifica had gone, “is the kitchen. The bathroom’s the door near the stairs. Uh… Upstairs is just where everyone’s rooms are, and my dad’s office.”

He gave Bill a glance only to see the other rolling his eye at him.

“That’s not a tour, that’s just telling me about your house! C’mon, pine tree, actually show me around! Let me see your room!”

He huffed out an “alright” and led the other to the stairs, pausing at the bottom to point out the bathroom before continuing upwards. When they reached his room door, he pointed at the door across from it that was covered in sparkles and pictures of boybands and farm animals. “That’s Mabel’s room.”

Bill took a moment to appreciate the doors decorations before turning back to look at Dipper.

“I assume the door you’re standing in front of is yours?”

“Uh, yea.”

He opened his room and stepped aside so the blonde could enter first.

“Wow… pretty gross, pine tree! Don’t you ever clean?”  

Bill was crinkling his nose in disgust, and Dipper suddenly wished he hadn’t decided to ignore the mess last night.

“It’s not that bad!”

“How sure are you this room is rat free?”

“Okay! Tour’s over; time to go back downstairs!”

He dragged a laughing Bill out of his room by the arm.

“Aw, alright, Dip-dop! But you really should clean in there. Never know what could be hiding in all that!”

“Yea, whatever.”

When they got back to the living room, Candy and Grenda were sitting on the couch and talking animatedly. Dipper furrowed his brow in confusion.

“Mabel and Pacifica aren’t back with the drinks yet?”

“Oh, Dipper, you’re back! Nope, they’ve been gone for a while, haven’t they?”

The girls shared a look and a laugh that he chalked up to them being, well, _them_.

“Maybe I should go check on them…”

“I’ll go!”

He looked at Bill, who was already starting to walk away.

“I wanna see your kitchen,” was the explanation he gave before disappearing through the door way. Dipper sighed, sitting down on the couch near the other girls and rubbing at the back of his neck.  It made him nervous being near them by himself. Candy especially; they’d made out, once, and Mabel didn’t know and he tried not to think about it. He was glad he didn’t have to be alone with them for long, since the others were coming back from the kitchen now. He noted that there were no drinks, that Bill looked ready to burst into laughter at any moment, and that Mabel’s whole face was flushed pink. Pacifica looked normal except for the fact that her hair was maybe a bit more disheveled than it had been.

“Did… something happen?”

“Nope!” His twin’s response was immediate, and followed closely by Pacifica asking “why?”

“Well, you were in the kitchen for a while, and don’t even have any drinks. Also, Bill looks like he’s going to have a stroke any minute.”

He watched as both girls shot the blonde boy a glare, who seemed to calm down some in response. “You’ve got a nice kitchen! Bigger than I expected. Hey, that’s what she said!” With that, he plopped down next to Dipper on the couch.  

“So, what’re we doing first?”

Mabel seemed to return to regular self at the question, excitement showing on her face as she announced that they were going to watch Saw.

“Be careful sitting beside Dipper, Bill! Gore makes him sick!”

“Does not! It just… grosses me out.”

Mabel rolled her eyes. “AKA, it makes you sick.”

When he was about to reply, he felt an elbow nudging him in the side. He looked at a grinning Bill.

“Feel free to grab onto me for all the scary parts, pine tree!”

\---

The movie wasn’t actually that bad. He looked away when he needed to, but for the most part he handled the gore pretty well. It was the second one he had a problem with. None of it even looked that real, but it still made something in his stomach knot. Bill’s tendency to laugh at what were definitely inappropriate moments didn’t help, causing him to startle every time. One of those times was when Mabel was in the other room ordering pizza, and someone was having something cut off on screen. Dipper was focusing on all of the too bright blood, and the sudden sound of Bill’s laughter next to him caused him to jump and let out a particularly unmanly noise. None of the girls in the room paid him any mind, but the blonde next to him was now eyeing him with a broad smile looking all too happy.

“These movies really do scare you, huh?”

He feels his cheeks flush with embarrassment. “You startled me! Who laughs at someone getting their arm cut off, anyway?”  

“You’d be laughing, too, if you weren’t so scared. It’s all so _fake_! And corny. Fake and corny. Like… look at the arm. You can _see_ that it’s plastic.”

Dipper leaned forward and studied the TV carefully. And, yea, he could see the arm lying on the ground was plastic, but the scene still unsettled him. He didn’t think he’d ever have the ability to laugh about it.  He leaned back again, and crinkled his nose at the other boy.

“Still not a reason to laugh like that.”

Bill waved a hand dismissively, turning his attention back to the movie. “Guess I just get more joy out of life than you.”

Dipper wanted to protest the statement, but when Mabel came back into the room he decided to just ignore it and watch the rest of the movie in silence (well, watch just above the movie, so he didn’t have to watch any more people get killed or have their limbs cut off).  

As soon as the movie ended, Mabel shot up, ready to tell everyone what they were going to do next. He knew she had a checklist of everything she wanted to do that night, and that she had it all planned out to a T. Her organization didn’t make all that much sense to him (he thought it made more sense to end the night with horror movies rather than start it) but he accepted and went along with it.

“Okay, I hope you’re all ready to—,” she paused when there was a knock at the door, her expression changing to a different kind of happy. “…Eat pizza!” She shot off to answer the door, and while she was gone he turned off the TV.

“Hmm, pizza… seems like something we’d need _drinks_ for.”

Pacifica gave Bill a glare and he returned it with a smile. Dipper felt like there was something he was missing from the exchange, like there was a whole different conversation happening silently between the two, because Bill looked way too amused and Pacifica looked almost embarrassed. He hesitated before speaking, feeling as though he was interrupting despite the fact that neither of the two were speaking.

“Er, if you want, I can go get some…”

Bill turned to him at the offer, his look of amusement shifting into his regular grin.

“Great! I’ll come with you! And, don’t worry;” he looked back at the platinum haired girl, “we’ll come back.”  And then Dipper was being led by hand off the couch and to his own kitchen. When they passed by the front door, he glanced at Mabel talking to the pizza delivery boy. Flirting with the pizza delivery boy, actually. He rolled his eyes; it was so _Mabel_ to hit on the stranger delivering their food. She turned and caught his eye, giving him a wink as Bill pulled him into the kitchen. They stopped in front of the fridge, and Dipper was suddenly all too aware about the fact that they were holding hands. He couldn’t decide whether he should pull his hand away or not; the contact felt kind of nice, and the other boys hand was soft and warm and welcoming. But it was weird to just hold your friends hand, even if they initiated the contact (it was just to drag Dipper to the kitchen, so it didn’t really count anyway). He pulled his hand away, flexing it before letting it fall to his side. He knew he had taken way too long to make the decision, and Bill was now giving him a curious look. The brunette coughed awkwardly, scratched his cheek (with the hand that hadn’t been holding Bill’s), and said, “So, drinks are in the fridge. What do you feel like? We’ve got, uh…” He had to actually open the fridge to check before he could list off the options to Bill. They ended up just taking the twelve pack of Pitt with them to the living room, and all Dipper could think about while they walked back was how weird his hand still felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still feel so nervous posting!! thank you to every one that is reading this, and thank you to every one that left a kudos! it means a lot that so many people seem to like this story!


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